Feature Family Member

A longtime interest in language and a passion for learning have made Joy Carter Cary a self-described "professional student."

For close to three decades, Joy hasn't strayed too far from her learning path, setting goals for herself and accomplishing them, then setting new challenges in her career. Not so long ago, the 52-year-old speech language pathologist decided to learn a new language - Spanish. "It's just something that I've always been interested in," she said. "When I was in high school I took Spanish, and also  when I was in college. It was a natural choice for me, because I have a little bit of background in it and there are a lot of Spanish-speaking people in Texas."

Her goal was not limited to learning a few choice phrases from a tourist guide to help her "get by." Cary developed a burning desire to fully learn and understand the language and has been working toward developing her skill to a level near that of a native Spanish speaker.

In order to do so, her studies have included learning all the tenses and rules of grammar, watching Spanish-language television, listening to Spanish-language radio and reading Spanish-language books. She's also traveled to Mexico specifically to immerse herself in Spanish-speaking environment schools to refine her skills.

"It's something you really have to want to do," said Cary, who recently returned from Cuernavaca, Mexico, where she spent a week in intensive language study. "People will go to school maybe a week and have a brief conversational class and they'll say they can speak Spanish. I know how long it takes to learn all the rules and increase your vocabulary and really have in-depth conversations."

Today she can have conversations with the Spanish-speaking parents of her students and she can read and write.

"Mainly I communicate with the children and their parents," she said. "I read novels in Spanish and write e-mails in Spanish. It's a continual personal goal, and it's something that I enjoy."

Cary estimates that it takes about seven years of interaction with native speakers to fully grasp a new language. She also benefits from the give-and-take rapport she develops with her patient's parents.

"I think (the parents) are very pleased that I try so hard to communicate with them," she said. "Some of my parents have asked me to correct them if they've said something wrong in English, and at the same time, if I make an error, I ask them to correct me. They like the fact that I go to Mexico and work in Spanish with their children."

Cary travels on her own time and at her own expense with the sole purpose of learning Spanish. Besides Cuernavaca, she's also been to San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato to study the language, sometimes for 10 weeks at a time.

"It's a continuous growth process," she adds.